Can't Help Falling in Love
by sarcasticannie
Summary: A collection of related percabeth oneshots based on the adorable Extra gum commercial. Watch "The Story of Sarah and Juan" on YouTube to get the gist of it. Rated T for minor adult themes in future updates.
1. The Beginning

**I'm back, homies. This time, with something I've had on my mind for a while. So if you haven't seen it, please go look up** **"The Story of Sarah and Juan"** **on YouTube by Extra Gum. It is literally the greatest commercial you will ever watch. And for** _ **gum.**_ **Like they blew that shit out of the water, ugh. I get so emotional every time. Anyways, here's a collection of oneshots based on the moments that are portrayed in that commercial, but in the style of pjo and percabeth. So it's a mortal AU I guess. Enjoy, fandom.**

 _The Beginning_

"There's no way the answer was D!"

"Piper, I'm telling you. Hammurabi was Mesopotamian. Not Egyptian."

"I studied last night! I could have sworn that's not what the book said…"

"Well maybe if you hadn't been busy sucking face with Jason, you would have paid attention to the fact that the book _did_ say that."

"Hey!"

"Guys!" I laughed at Piper's pink face and Calypso's smug smirk. We were standing in the hallway after History class. The girls had followed me to my locker. "Calm down. It was just a quiz. The exam isn't for another two weeks."

Piper scoffed. "Easy for you to say, genius!" A piece of her choppy brown hair fell out of her braid as she whipped her head to face me. "You're Annabeth Chase. You don't need to study hard and worry about whether or not you're going to pass. I, on the other hand, cannot afford to fail another quiz, exam, or anything in History! I am not about to spend my first summer out of high school in high school."

"Technically, if you fail History you won't graduate, so you'll still be a high-schooler during the summer – "

"Not helping, Calypso."

"Sorry."

I chuckled as I placed the books from my last two classes into my locker and grabbed the ones for my next three. Piper and Calypso were quite the pair, and they always made me laugh. It made me grateful to have them as two of my best friends. Without them, I probably wouldn't know what the word "relax" meant and I would have gone crazy a long time ago.

"Piper, I'm sure you'll be fine. But Calypso's right. Maybe next time you should actually try and focus on what you're studying instead of letting your boyfriend distract you…"

Calypso snickered and Piper flushed pink once again. "You guys are the worst," she whined.

Calypso and I continued to laugh and tease Piper, who didn't take long to crack a smile and join in by teasing Calypso about the cute Hispanic boy she'd been spending so much time with. Eventually, they were both rosy-cheeked and bickering playfully while I shook my head and laughed silently.

While they argued like siblings, I allowed my eyes to drift elsewhere. I was just aimlessly looking until someone caught my eye. I did a slight double-take when I saw him. Just a little way down the hallway to the left of us was a small group of guys, who were talking and laughing. One of them was staring at me.

He was slightly taller than the rest of the guys standing around him. They were all athletic looking. His raven hair was longer on top and messy, but it didn't resemble a homeless person's so I decided that it suited him. His lips were turned up in a small smile and his eyes…

Sea green orbs bore into my own grey ones and I couldn't look away. I also couldn't help but smile back.

"Speaking of Jason, don't you have somewhere to be, McLean?" Calypso's voice startled me back into the conversation. "Or should I say, someone to make out in public with?"

Piper shoved her shoulder lightly. "Ugh, I hate you. But, yes, you're right. Not about the making out in public part! The somewhere to be part. I gotta go meet up with him right now. I'll catch you guys later!"

After waving goodbye quickly, Piper McLean hurried down the hallway towards the spot where her boyfriend, Jason Grace was waiting for her, as he did every day after second period. I watched as she trotted the last couple of steps to him and tiptoed to kiss him sweetly on the lips. They were a cute couple.

"And you?" I turned my attention back to Calypso, who was also watching the couple down the hall. She refocused her almond eyes on me. "You don't have to go meet that Leo guy somewhere?"

She rolled her eyes, but her smile gave her away. "No. We're just friends. I don't need to meet anyone anywhere. Except my Pre-Cal teacher, who's classroom is all the way across campus, so I better run, too."

She hugged me quickly before turning to head down the hallway, calling out a "See you at lunch!" behind her. I gave a half-hearted wave, knowing she would have turned her back by then, unable to see it anyways.

I turned back to my locker and used the magnetic mirror to apply some much-needed Chapstick to my lips and checked to make sure my curly hair hadn't become a frizzy mess. When I finished, I moved to close my locker, but the books slipped out from under my arm, landing with thuds on the linoleum floor. Embarrassed by the commotion it caused, I immediately bent down to gather it all, picking up stray worksheets and pages of notes that I'd left within the textbooks.

"Here, let me help you with that."

"Oh, I've got it. Thanks…"

My voice trailed off when I looked up and saw him: the boy who'd been staring earlier. He looked up at me, and for the second time that day, our eyes met and I got lost for a second before recovering and smiling nervously. A flush rose to my face as he flashed me a crooked grin and handed me my Anatomy notebook.

We both rose to our feet.

I cleared my throat. "Um, thank you, uh – "

"Percy," he offered. He stuck out a hand and continued to smile warmly down at me. I shook his hand. It was much larger than mine and kind of rough, but it was nice.

"Well, Percy, thank you. I'm Annabeth."

"Annabeth, huh?" He seemed to mull it over in his head before settling his expression into the smile that never seemed to leave his face. "That's a pretty name."

I looked down at my navy Converse and tried to hide my bashful smile. Guys had never really tried to talk to me much, so I wasn't used to getting compliments from them. It made me feel like a silly cliché schoolgirl with a crush on the cutest guy in her school.

That might have been _exactly_ what I was becoming, but I didn't want _him_ to see that.

"Thanks," I mumbled. I didn't quite know what else to say, and I really didn't want the conversation to turn awkward. I would never let myself live it down if he walked away without knowing how normal I could be. I looked over at my open locker and spotted the pack of gum I always left in there. I grabbed it. "You want one?"

 _Really, Annabeth? A stick of gum? That's how you're gonna play this?_

I wanted to slap myself. Percy didn't seem to be fazed much by it. He just chuckled amusedly and said, "Sure. Why not?"

I opened the flap of the pack and held it out to him so he could grab a stick. He held it up and smiled in thanks.

I was about to say something, probably cringeworthy, but I was cut off by the warning bell. Instead, I said, "Well. I guess I better get to class. Thank you, for helping me out with my runaway books."

Percy grinned. "Hey, no problem. I'll keep an eye out for you in case they ever try to escape again," he joked.

I laughed.

"I'll see you around, Annabeth."

He turned and walked down the hallway and I went in the opposite direction where my class was located. As I walked through the door into AP English, I couldn't shake the images of the twinkle in his green eyes and his bright smile, and the warm feeling they gave me.

I spent the rest of class praying I'd see him again when I got out.

 **Okay, so not the best start, but I feel like that's just because they're a little OOC. I know Annabeth is, but she kinda has to be for the sake of the oneshot. The next ones should be better though; this is only the beginning. *wink wink* Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it. The next one should be up already so go check it out and leave a review!**


	2. The First Date

**To redeem myself for the first oneshot, here's the second one to go with it. Hope it's better. It's in Percy's p.o.v. I'll be alternating them, depending on the scene I'm trying to recreate. Enjoy, fandom.**

 _The First Date_

To say that I was nervous was an understatement.

Annabeth and I had just gotten back after I took her out for dinner and a movie (lame, I know) and now we were sitting in my step-father's Prius outside of her apartment building.

The date had gone extremely well, in my opinion. Annabeth had emerged from her building looking like a million bucks. A golden yellow dress swished around her thighs as she walked and a denim jacket covered her torso. Her curly blonde hair was pulled half back into a little ponytail. My heart raced.

"You look really pretty," I told her. My stomach fluttered when her cheeks turned rosy and she smiled.

We went to the theater and watched a silly action movie, commenting on the awful special effects throughout, then we headed to nearby restaurant that served some pretty good Italian food. There, we laughed and talked about everything. I even managed to accidentally drop a couple of meatballs in my lap, thankful for the napkin spread over my knees. I didn't mind, though. It made her smile and call me a dork, which I appreciated, coming from her. We had some silly moments, and we had some more serious moments. She told me about how things used to be rough between her and her parents, and I told her about how my mom hadn't been able to catch a break until I was fourteen and she met my stepdad.

Annabeth and I had hung out a bit during school for the past couple of weeks or so, but sitting there in the restaurant and talking about everything with her, it felt like we'd known each other much longer. Talking to her was easy. It was comfortable. I felt like wasn't going to be judged when I told her about what I wanted for the future, or what had happened in my past. She just smiled at me every time I brought up something personal as if to say, _I understand._

Basically, it was the best date I'd ever been on. We walked back to where the car was parked and after a few short steps, I felt her hand slip into mine. I tried desperately to calm myself down out of fear that my hands would turn clammy and she would let go. Thankfully, it didn't happen. We made it back to the car and I opened the door for her to get in. She smiled sweetly.

We sat in comfortable silence and listened to the radio as I drove her back to her place. When we arrived, I turned off the engine, but left the radio playing softly. The silence grew louder, though it wasn't awkward. It was more expectant now. My heart was racing again.

Annabeth sat to my right, her hands fidgeting in her lap as she glanced at me and then quickly looked away when I noticed. I knew where this was going. It was exactly where I had wanted it to go, except now that the moment was here, I was frozen in place. I didn't know how to go about it.

Then: "Do you want a piece?"

I looked over and Annabeth was holding out a pack of gum, taking me back to the hallway where we'd first met. I remembered staring at her, in her denim shorts and her striped t-shirt. Her hair had been twisted into a loose braid that fell down her spine. This time, instead of looking away bashfully when she noticed me looking, she looked at me almost teasingly. _Are you gonna kiss me, or not?_ she seemed to be saying.

Well, duh.

I let out a soft chuckle before leaning over the console to kiss her. It was quick, but meaningful. We both sat back in our seats and Annabeth laughed, her face a brilliant shade of pink. I couldn't help but laugh, too, because I was sure I didn't look much different. I reached over and plucked a piece of gum from the pack in her hand. She looked back down at her lap.

"Well, I better get inside. My dad's probably waiting."

"Yeah. Sure, thing."

She leaned over and kissed my cheek. "Goodnight, Percy."

I smiled. "Goodnight, Annabeth."

Annabeth got out and walked around to the entrance of her building. She turned around and waved one last time before disappearing inside. I sunk into my seat and let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. The night's events ran through my mind over and over again, sending me to Cloud 9. I remembered the gum and popped it into my mouth.

I stared at the wrapper. An idea formed in my head.

I rummaged through the console until I found a pen and I began to draw some (rather awful) figures kissing in a car. I was no artist, but seeing the moment printed out for me right there was just what I needed. I slipped the wrapper into my wallet, being careful not to crumple it.

I looked up at Annabeth's apartment building one more time, wondering if she was feeling as giddy as I was before taking off back to my own place.

 **Alright, now we're getting into it. This one was a bit shorter than I would have liked it to be, but you can only do so much, you know? Hope you enjoyed it; be sure to leave a review!**


End file.
